(a) Field
The subject matter disclosed generally relates to equipment for lifting of heavy loads and associated methods. More particularly, the subject matter disclosed relates to trailers for lifting electrical transformers and to associated methods.
(b) Related Prior Art
The transportation industry of heavy loads currently employs a diversity of vehicles to haul and deliver heavy loads from a source site to an end site. For this purpose, various types of trailers are used in many commercial and industrial applications to convey differently sized heavy loads to their destination. Presently, because of their substantial heavy load capacity, trailers comprise a principal mode of conveyance for both large and small heavy loads.
Most generally, a trailer may refer to an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle for displacing a heavy load or a plurality of heavy loads. For instance, it is common for heavy loads to be towed on a trailer behind a vehicle for allowing safety transport of the heavy loads.
There exist many trailers on the market for allowing different types of heavy loads to be transported. For example, for a boat to be transported, a trailer may be backed onto a boat ramp to allow such boat to be launched stern first while still carried at the boat's trailed height. For allowing the boat to get on the trailer, the trailer needs to be backed onto a boat ramp and underneath the surface of the water to get the boat out of the water and on the trailer.
As another example, transportation of two-wheeled vehicles, particularly motorcycles, is typically facilitated by a trailer. However, the two-wheeled vehicles need to be loaded onto the trailer by means of a rigid ramp or a plurality of rigid ramps.
As a further example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,516 describes a compact utility trailer for pick-up and delivery of relatively small sized lots of material which is towable behind a variety of commonly driven vehicles such as automobile, pick-up trucks and the like. The trailer described contains a hand operated hydraulic jack-operated forklift that allows a pallet of material to be easily seized and lifted into a transportation position within the confines of the trailer.
As described above, various trailers may lift and transport a heavy load from the source site to the end site. However, these trailers need to be operated in optimal conditions. Indeed, the level on the ground needs to be relatively flat and nonobstructed in the case of the trailer described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,516 for the horizontal fork or finger elements to displace under a pallet of material and to lift it over the ground surface. Moreover, the trailer used for lifting a two-wheeled vehicle needs to be loaded onto the trailer by means of a rigid ramp or a plurality of rigid ramps. Furthermore, the boat may be lifted on a trailer since the water permits the trailer to displace above the boat using a ramp.
Thus, it is easy to install a heavy load in a trailer when the heavy load is supported by wheels, when the trailer may easily be displaced underneath the trailer (i.e., under water for instance), when the ground surface in nonobstructed and the like.
However, most of the time it can be hazardous to lift a heavy load in a trailer since the trailer cannot be displaced underneath the heavy load or since the ground surface is obstructed, i.e., obstructed by snow, by branches, by a rugged area and the like.
Finally, another consideration is access to the site of the heavy load. Consider the case of electrical transformers (or power converters) for wind turbines which must be maintained or replaced. Such wind turbines are often located in remote locations which are difficult to access, for example, in winter time when the ground and access roads are covered with snow or rendered inaccessible thereby. In such cases, the access roads and the area around the electrical transformer must be cleared of the snow in order to bring the lifting and towing equipment to the site of the electrical transformer. The cost of clearing the snow from the access road is expensive and it is therefore desirable to reduce or completely avoid such expenses.
There is therefore a need for an improved trailer for lifting a heavy load and for a method for lifting the heavy load to overcome these previously described disadvantages.